Pendant cover for rotisserie spit hole

ABSTRACT

This invention relates generally to ovens of the type used in household ranges and more particularly to ranges of the selfcleaning or pyrolytic type having a rotisserie using an external drive motor.

United States Patent Inventor Thomas E. Dadson Franklin, Mich.

App]. No. 816,245

Filed Apr. 15, 1969 Patented Aug. 31, 1971 Assignee Kelvinalor, Inc.

Grand Rapids, Mich.

PENDANT COVER FOR ROTISSERIE SPIT HOLE 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

' 49/171 Int. Cl A37j 37/04 Field of Search 99/42] H,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,020,808 11/1935 Speakman 99/421 X 2,792,773 5/1957 Barker 99/421 3,500,794 3/1970 Russell 49/171 X Primary Examiner-Jacob Shapiro Attorney-McNenny, Farrington, Pearne & Gordon ABSTRACT: This invention relates generally to ovens of the type used in household ranges and more particularly to ranges of the self-cleaning or pyrolytic type having a rotisserie using an external drive motor.

JIM

PATENTED was! um INVENTOR. M 'MJ 6. 040.5011

PENDANT COVER FOR ROTISSE l: l SPllT HOLE In pyrolytic ranges, it is the general practice to permanently mount the rotisserie drive motor exteriorly of the oven chamber and within the insulation area surrounding the chamber. The spit or skewer rod upon which is skewered the food to be rotated and cooked in the oven chamber is sup-- ported in a well-known manner and movable for its terminal end to be coupled and uncoupled from the drive motor by passing through an opening in the oven wall adjacent the drive motor. When the use of the rotisserie is not desired, the skewer rod is uncoupled and withdrawn from the opening, and it is the general practice to keep the opening covered by a suitable cover generally in the form of a flat pendant member to prevent vapors, gases, and the like arising from general cooking use of the chamber or from decomposing soil matter being cleaned from the oven walls by the process of pyrolysis, from passing through the opening to contaminate the insulation and possibly causing damage to the rotisserie drive motor. A typical cover is generally suspended to automatically swing; to close the opening by gravitational forces. The pendant is flat sheet stock and as the opening covered is generally on the rear wall of the chamber it is difiicult and awkward to be reached by hand to swing the pendant and insert the end of the skewer rod through the uncovered opening. This hand reaching is particularly dangerous when the oven walls have become heated. This latter situation particularly occurs when the skewer rod becomes uncoupled as it is withdrawn from the oven chamber to permit basting of the food and must thereafter be returned to the oven chamber for further barbecuing which now requires the reopening of the automatically closed opening before recoupling the skewer rod to the drive motor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved closure member arranged to normally maintain covered an opening in a wall of a cooking oven chamber and being further arranged to being readily movable to uncover the opening upon contact by the terminal end or point of the skewer rod moving for entry into the opening for coupling to a drive motor.

Another object of the present invention is the arrangement of a swingable mounted closure member arranged to swing as a pendant to close an opening in a wall of a cook oven and having a body section covering the opening, formed with a forward projecting section having at least one inclined surface which is engageable in a sliding contact by the point of a skewer rod to cam the closure member to swing to uncover the opening as the point progresses towards and enters the opening.

The above and further and additional objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the drawings.

FIG. l is a fragmentary horizontal cross-sectional view of an oven chamber in a cooking range with parts broken away and embodying the present invention illustrated with a spit of a rotisserie readied for axial movement for engagement therewith.

FIG. 2; is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of my improved closuremember; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of closure member illustrated closing an opening in a wall with parts broken away and parts shown in section.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, FIG. 1 shows a fragmentary section of a range having a cooking oven chamber 12 to which access is had through a front opening 14 closed by a drop down door 16 suitably hinged to the range body.

The oven chamber 12 is formed by a liner 20 forming a rear wall 22, opposed sidewalls 24, bottom wall 2% and atop wall (not shown). The liner 20 is enclosed in suitable heat insulation 26 which in turn is encased by suitable outer walls 37 held in spaced relation from the sides of the: liner 20.

The o en chamber 12 is provided with rack guides or supports 23 secured in horizontal alignment on the opposed vertical sidewalls 24 to slidingly support racks or wire shelves (not shown) when the oven is in normal use. When the oven is to be used as a rotisserie, the rack guides 28 are employed to sup port a wire rotisserie frame 30, which in turn is constructed to support a suitable spit or skewer rod 3d on which food is skewered and rotated to be cooked with the heat from the heating elements (not shown) in the oven chamber in the usual manner.

The rotisserie frame 30 is generally rectangular in shape and comprises parallel extending sides 31 adapted to ride along the rack guides 28 as the frame 30 is moved into and out of the oven chamber. The sides 31 are connected by rear crossmember 32 and front crossmember 33 to complete the rectangular shape of the frame. In order to provide a guided support for the skewer rod 34, the rear and front crossmembers 32 and 33 are provided in their mid portion with depressed semicircu lar valleys 37 and 38, respectively, which are arranged to rotatably support the skewer rod 34. When the frame 30 is mounted in position on the rack guides 28, the valleys 3'7 and 3% determine a position for the skewer rod 34 in general alignment with an opening 40 formed in the rear wall 22, behind which is located the rotisserie drive motor 36. The drive motor 36 is provided with a housing extension Ali in general alignment with the opening 40 and within the extension 41 is located the motor drive shaft 42 which is provided with a drive socket $3 to receive and rotatably drive the skewer rod 34.

As shown, the valley 37 in the rear frame crossmember 32 is formed with a radius substantially larger than that of the skewer rod 34 so when the rod is received within the socket 43 it is supported free of any contact with the valley 37 which serves only to support the skewer rod in an approximate horizontal position when the skewer rod is removed from the socket 43. At its other end, the skewer rod 34 is formed with an enlarged handle 45 which is provided with an annular grooved portion 46 adapted to ride in and make bearing contact with the valley 38 in the from frame crossmember 33. The grooved portion 46 in this case is arranged not only to provide a bearing support for the skewer rod when the rotisserie is in operation, but by its interengagement with the valley 38 it effectively positions the skewer rod against axial movement with respect to the rotisserie frame 30. This action serves to effectively position the skewer rod 34 axially with respect to the rotisserie frame 30 and in addition allows both the skewer rod and the frame to be moved as a unit into and out of the oven by manipulation of the handle portion 45. In accordance with the usual practice, the skewer rod 34 may be provided with drive prongs 48 adapted to engage the food skewered on the rod 34 to rotatably drive the food with the rod under the action of the drive motor 36.

In an ordinary cooking oven where the maximum oven temperature is about 550 B, it has been found desirable, although not absolutely necessary, to provide some sort of cover for the opening 40 to prevent greases and spatter within the oven from coating and fouling the drive shaft 52 and socket 43, as well as possibly contaminating the insulationflo. in the case of pyrolytic or self-cleaning ovens, it has been found to be quite necessaryto provide a cover for the opening d0 because in addition to the aforementioned hazards during normal operation of the oven, the use of the self-cleaning feature in an oven in which the opening 40 is left exposed results not only in increased contamination of the insulation is from the gaseous byproducts of the cleaning operation, but also exposes the drive motor 36 to serious damage, particularly as to the motor'bearings because of the high temperatures in the oven of up to 950 P. which are encountered during the selfcleaning operation. While it has been recognized in the past as necessary to provide a cover for the opening 40, prior covers have necessitated the use of a separate manual operation to remove the cover temporarily from its normal position blocking off the opening 40 so that the opening 40 may be left open to receive the skewer rod 34 in the driving relationship. This has created problems in that it is difficult to uncover the opening 40 when the oven is hot, and in the event that the opening 40 is left uncovered, there is a possibility that it will not be properly replaced during the self-cleaning operation with consequent possible damages to the drive motor 36 and the insulation 26.

The present invention overcomes the problems of covering the opening 40 by providing an arrangement which not only automatically covers the opening 40 when the skewer rod 34 is not in position to engage the drive motor socket 43, but also provides a cover which may be automatically or almost automatically moved aside with a minimum of manipulation by the use of the skewer rod 34 alone as the tool for uncovering the opening 40.

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, the opening 40 is covered by a cover or closure member 50 which is pivotally mounted on the rear oven wall 22 by a pivotal mounting such as screw 51 which is located above the opening 40. The center of gravity of the closure member 50 is therefore below the screw 51 so that the operation of gravitational forces and a pendulum action together with a free pivot about the screw 51 allows the closure member to swing back into a position blocking off the opening 40. To provide the selfopening operation, the closure member 50 is provided with cam surfaces which re automatically engaged by the sharp or tapered point 49 of the skewer rod 34. Accordingly, the closure member 50 is preferably formed of sheet material of suitable heat resistance such as steel or other metal and includes a face side 60 adapted to remain in sliding frictional contact with the rear wall 22 and to have a sufficient extend to cover the opening 40 completely with considerable overlap when the closure member 50 is in the normal position. The face side 60 preferably includes an upwardly extending tab portion 58 adapted to rotatably receive the screw 51 which is secured in the rear wall 22 to allow the closure member to I pivot freely about the screw 51. Extending outwardly from the face side 60 are a pair of sides 61 and 62 which form a triangular pyramidal shape and are joined together along a vertical junction edge 63 in general alignment with the centerline of the opening 40. When the closure member 50 is formed of sheet metal, one of the sides 61 and 62 may be formed integrally with the face side 60 with the other side joined to the opposite side of the face side 60 by a suitable joint formed by welding or the like. The sides 61 and 62 are preferably planar and triangular in shape so that the vertical junction 63 slopes downwardly and outwardly into the oven chamber 12.

When the rotisserie is not in use, the closure member 50, being free to pivot about the screw 51, normally hangs in the lowermost position in which the face side 60 of the closure member seals off the opening 40. When it is desired to use the rotisserie, the rotisserie frame 30 is mounted in place on rack guides 28 and the skewer 34 with the food suitably secured thereon and is placed on top of the rotisserie frame with the front portion of the skewer rod 34 resting in the rear valley 37 on the rear crossmember 32 and with the grooved portion 46 of handle 45 secured within the front valley 38 on the front crossmember 33. At this time, by simply applying a horizontal axial force on the handle 45, the skewer 34 and the rotisserie frame 30 may be moved as a unit into the interior of the oven. As the sharp point 49 of the skewer rod 34 moves toward the closure member 50, the horizontal freedom of movement of the skewer rod within the rear valley 37 tends to insure that the point 49 will be in alignment to either one or the other side of the vertical junction 63. In such case, continued movement of the frame 30 and skewer 34 will cause the point 49 to contact one of the sides 61 and 62 and because of the sloping surface of such sides, a camming action will be obtained which results in rotation of the closure member 50 in either the counterclockwise or clockwise direction, depending upon whether contact is with side 61 or 62, so that the closure member 50 rotates outwardly and upwardly about the screw 51 to uncover the opening 40, After this has been accomplished, the point 49 is allowed to pass through the opening 40 and the housing extension 41 to become engaged within the socket 43 of motor drive shaft 42 in driving engagement so that energization of the drive motor 36 will then cause skewer rod 34 to be rotatably driven so that it is supported at its inner end in the socket 43 and at its outer end by the bearing contact between the grooved portion 46 and theouter valley 38. In the rare likelihood that the point 49 will come into direct engagement with the vertical junction 63, such action would tend to cause the rear or inner end of the skewer rod 34 to rise so that a slight horizontal movement of the skewer rod in either direction will then cause it to engage either of the sides 61 and 62 of the closure member to cause the closure member to rotate out of position in the aforesaid manner. Because the sides 61 and 62 represent the entire exposed area of the closure member 50 that can fall in alignment with the point 49 of skewer rod 34, it will be seen that simple axial movement of the skewer rod moves the closure member 50 completely out of the way with a forward movement to allow ihe proper engagement to occur with socket 43.

After the cooking has been completed, movement of the skewer rod 34 and the frame 30 outwardly from the oven causes the sharp point 49 to become disengaged from he drive motor shaft socket 43, so that the weight of the closure member 50 pivoting about the screw 51 allows the closure member to swing back to the vertical position in which the face side 60 completely blocks off the opening 40.

FIG. 5 represents a modified form of closure member 70 formed in a solid piece as by casting or the like from suitable heat resistant material. The closure member 70 is provided with the face side 71 adapted to close off the opening 40 and this face side may be either planar or convex to seal more tightly within the opening 40. The closure member 70 is provided with an upwardly projecting tab 72 adapted to receive the screw 51 from the pivotal mounting on the rear wall 22 and is provided with pyramidal sides 73 and 74 joined along a vertical junction 75 to provide a configuration substantially the same in construction and operation as the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 4. By making the face side 71 somewhat convex, not only is a better seal obtained against the opening 40, but this provides an additional detent action to prevent accidental lateral or swinging movement of the closure member from partially uncovering the opening where the gravitational restoring forces are rather small as when the closure member is moved only slightly aside or does not return fully to its center position.

Although several embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail, it is recognized that the camming surfaces on the closure member may take other shapes such as a single camming surface extending for the full frontally exposed extent of the closure member with the other side extending parallel to the axis of the skewer rod 40. In such case, the camming action of the closure member by the sharp point 49 of skewer rod 34 would always result in movement of the closure member in the same direction. Likewise, the closure member can have a camming surface sloping upwardly and outwardly and be mounted in slide tracks so as to cause a purely vertical movement without rotation of the closure member against the force of gravity which would then cause the closure member to drop back down to close off the opening 40 after the skewer rod has been removed from engagement with the drive shaft socket 43.

Iclaim:

l. A cooking oven chamber including interior walls, an opening in one of said walls, rotisserie drive means on the exterior of said one wall and having driving coupling means engageable through said opening, rotisserie means including a rotatable skewer and frame means to support said skewer for rotation about an axis and to be movable axially to and from said opening, cover means movably mounted on said one wall to normally close said opening, and interengageable cam means on said skewer and said cover defining at least one surface oblique to said axis and operably upon interengagement of said skewer with said cover to cause said cover to move laterally from said axis to uncover said opening upon axial movement of said skewer toward said opening.

2. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cover means is pivotally mounted one interior wall above said opening and above the center of gravity of said cover.

3. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cam means includes a laterally sloping surface on said cover and a tapered point on said skewer.

4. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 3 wherein said cam means includes two sloping planar surfaces converging along a generally vertically extending junction line which is in substantial axial alignment with the point on said skewer.

5. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 2 wherein said cover includes a convex surface adapted to interengage said opening to provide detent means tending to resist movement of said cover laterally away from said opening.

6. A closure member for sealing off an opening in a vertical wall of a range oven, which opening provides access to a rotisserie drive motor having means to receive and rotatably drive a rotatable member of a rotisserie, said closure member including means adapted to rotatably mount said closure member for rotation about a horizontal axis above said opening and above the center of gravity of said closure member, said closure member including a sealing face adapted to extend across said opening and making substantial sealing contact with said wall in the area surrounding said opening, said closure member being provided with projecting cam surfaces extending laterally outwardly into the oven and being adapted to cooperate with a cam member on the rotisserie, said cam surfaces including a pair of surfaces sloping laterally together from opposed edges of said closure member to be joined together on a junction line in substantial axial alignment with the vertical centerline of said opening with said junction line sloping upwardly and toward said wall at a point adjacent the means pivotally mounting said closure member, whereby operation of said rotisserie to move said rotisserie into driving engagement with said motor rotates said closure member about said pivot to uncover said opening prior to the making of driving engagement between said rotisserie and said driving motor. 

1. A cooking oven chamber including interior walls, an opening in one of said walls, rotisserie drive means on the exterior of said one wall and having driving coupling means engageable through said opening, rotisserie means including a rotatable skewer and frame means to support said skewer for rotation about an axis and to be movable axially to and from said opening, cover means movably mounted on said one wall to normally close said opening, and interengageable cam means on said skewer and said cover defining at least one surface oblique to said axis and operably upon interengagement of said skewer with said cover to cause said cover to move laterally from said axis to uncover said opening upon axial movement of said skewer toward said opening.
 2. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cover means is pivotally mounted one interior wall above said opening and above the center of gravity of said cover.
 3. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cam means includes a laterally sloping surface on said cover and a tapered point on said skewer.
 4. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 3 wherein said cam means includes two sloping planar surfaces converging along a generally vertically extending junction line which is in substantial axial alignment with the point on said skewer.
 5. A cooking oven chamber as set forth in claim 2 wherein said cover includes a convex surface adapted to interengage said opening to provide detent means tending to resist movement of said cover laterally away from said opening.
 6. A closure member for sealing off an opening in a vertical wall of a range oven, which opening provides access to a rotisserie drive motor having means to receive and rotatably drive a rotatable member of a rotisserie, said closure member including means adapted to rotatably mount said closure member for rotation about a horizontal axis above said opening and above the center of gravity of said closure member, said closure member including a sealing face adapted to extend across said opening and making substantial sealing contact with said wall in the area surrounding said opening, said closure member being provided with projecting cam surfaces extending laterally outwardly into the oven and being adapted to cooperate with a cam member on the rotisserie, said cam surfaces including a pair of surfaces sloping laterally together from opposed edges of said closure member to be joined together on a junction line in substantial axial alignment with the vertical centerline of said opening with said junction line sloping upwardly and toward said wall at a point adjacent the means pivotally mounting said closure member, whereby operation of said rotisserie to move said rotisserie into driving engagement with said motor rotates said closure member about said pivot to uncover said opening prior to the making of driving engagement between said rotisserie and said driving motor. 